Last night in Beijing

     On our last day in Beijing we ran around all day handling some business. By the time 4 o'clock came along Dyson and I were over it. We still had some souvenir shopping to do. Our friend Vince was kind enough to pick us up and take us to the markets where we could bargain and get stuff for cheap. Dyson even managed to get some prescription eyeglasses from Dr. Feelgood for $35.00. The lady checked his eye sight, figured his vision, and filled his prescription in some knock off Ray Ban frames in about 20 minutes. I don't think she was an optometrist but Dyson said he'd never seen so clear in his life when he put on the glasses. Are we getting ripped off in the U.S. or what? Dys said the only reason he never got glasses back home is because his medical didn't cover it, so it would cost an arm and a leg for a pair of prescription eye glasses.

     After we pau shopping, Vince took us to one of his favorite local hot pot restaurants. Perfect because it was starting to get cold outside! We had to wait outside for about 30 minutes freezing our balls off, but it was well worth it!

Beef or sheep!

There were two sides to the hot pot. The spicy side (red) and not spicy (clear).

This was fresh baked bread. Braaaahh it was soooo good! It was super crispy and look like there individual layers of thin dough that made up the bread! That and beer and I'd be content!

Look at the size of that lettuce on the dirty floor!

Mahalo Vince!

Night shopping in the super busy alley.

Raddest Starbucks we came across!

Cafe racer in China. Some hipster owned this. We can't escape the hipsters even in China.

Last stop was to get a cold beer to drink in the cold weather. This place had the most elaborate selection of beer and it was located in an alley. Vince said all the Chinese military guys patronize the bar next door, so they probably stop in here as well to get the high end stuff. There was a bench with a long table out front and Vince said this is where they come to drink some times in the summer before going out for the evening. China's version of Ewa Pantry!

Back on Jinchengfang St.

      The next morning we woke up to beautiful Beijing weather again. Sunny skies, clear air, and it was warm enough to wear a tee. That was until the wind started to blow. Other than that it was a wonderful day to get outdoors and make the most of our last free day.

This is the CCTV building. The architect who designed this did an outstanding job! I'd like to be on the farthest out corner with the glass floors taking a look down into the city of Beijing!

     Just little less than a week before we got to Beijing there was a terrorist attack on the Forbidden City. A husband, wife, and grandma crashed their jeep into the crowd and the jeep blew up killing six people and injuring 30. On this day as we passed by there were fences installed separating the street from the sidewalk which wasn't there before. On the Tienanmen Square side across the street the military and police were armed and ready for any terrorist planning an attack again.

These guys were working the corner commanding sympathy from all the workers in the Financial District. Looked to me like they made out pretty good at the end of the day!

This car set up shop right across the street from all the restaurants. They were serving hot rice, some type of soup, and some sort of chicken. They got pretty busy and a line started to form. The police saw them but said nothing, they might've even ordered something!

These were the familiar businesses I was talking about. They're all located right across the street from the lunch car and the place we were skating. It's amazing how much the Chinese adopt American brands into their own lives. It seems they're looking for something to identify with and they don't really have anything iconic to latch on to. Don't matter they probably own most of the shares of these American companies anyways.

The park on Financial Street is absolutely beautiful. Being that we live in Hawaii, we don't get to experience the colors of fall. This portion of the city is spotless and very clean. I watched the street cleaner come by three times that day spraying the street and sweeping it. There were landscapers manicuring the park as well.

She likes skateboarders!

Vince

Dunzi

Tsuyong

Lunch time!

And this is what happened after lunchtime! No more skateboarding!

Bathroom break!

Tsuyong, Chuck, Dyson, and Vince!

After our skate sesh we went to go check out the Joy City Mall. This place was jumping for a Monday evening. It's huge and it's 6 floors I believe. Pretty much every major brand that we have in the U.S. was here. Didn't feel like were in China.

This is the Nike Action store. It's pretty much a Nike SB shop with everything skateboarding related only. Haven't seen one of these back in the states yet.

I was asked kindly not to take pictures in the Vans shop for reasons unknown. There wasn't anything I saw in there that we don't carry at our Blue Hawaii Surf Beijing shop. For some reason when we walk into the different Vans stores in China they like to tailgate you. They don't say anything they just tailgate you and gear check you. 

And last but not least this one's for my friend Marlon. Here's the Li Ning store a China brand of athletic footwear. They managed to steal D. Wade from Team Jordan so you know they paid him a shit load! The quality of the shoes weren't that good and it seemed like they may have even brought a designer from Nike over to design Wade's shoe. Supposedly these will be releasing in the U.S. some time in November.

Free day!

The day after the anniversary party we had a free day to roam Beijing. What did we end up doing? Eating Mc Donald's, drinking Starbucks, and waiting for our friends to head up to Camp Woodward to skate some bowls. The plan was to meet up at 10am at the shop, catch the line 4 train to the end and then catch a Black Cab to Woodward. After about three hours at the shop Dys and I were over it. The boys had slept in because they partied too hard the night before at the Blue Hawaii after party! We went back to our rooms and started to unwind when we got the call to meet in the lobby. Fuck! I was just about to get some shut eye and it was getting cold.

You can brush teeth and take a shower with this water but you can't drink it? How about when I'm rinsing my mouth out while brushing? Where does the water come from?

Skateboarding or bicycling is the best means for transportation being that the streets are congested. However they are a lot smoother than our pot hole ridden streets in Hawaii. That's sad.

Our plan was to get a pick of Dys on somebody scoot everyday for the "ride of the day" pic. On this day we found a dirt bike in the lot. Score! Looked like an RM 80 but was to busy paying attention to security that was watching Dys sit on someone else's bike!

Looks the same and Dyson said "it smells like America!" Ha! That was pretty funny because I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. The difference between Mickey D's in China and the U.S. is that they serve fried chicken. Also Dys said the burgers tasted a little different. I told him its because they use dog meat!

After waiting all day to hear from these guys they finally woke up! It was way worth meeting up with them instead of going back to sleep.

This spot is in the Financial District. The streets are clean the city is clean and there's a lot of familiar companies that we're used to seeing back home. Oh yeah and you can skate and not get busted here!

More to come on my next post, stay tuned!